COLOMBIA – It’s been a week since the season is over and Frank Martin remains the basketball coach of South Carolina.
This would not be a surprise, except for all the storm clouds that have formed in the past few weeks. Even in a year when Gamecocks were hit harder by COVID-19 than any other team in the country, stopping three times over the course of a month and a half and Martin twice contracting the virus, USC season 6-15 there were people questioning the direction of the program and whether Martin, who trained nine seasons, was leaving.
Gamecocks were eliminated from the SEC tournament on March 11 and a resolution was expected shortly thereafter. Martin and athletics director Ray Tanner met, sources close to the situation confirmed, but no decision has been made about Martin’s future and all options, including a return to a 10º season, stay on the table.
“I hope you know where I am, me and my family. This is our home, this is what we love, ”said Martin before the SEC tournament. “If I am wanted, this is what I want to call home.”
Martin is the third most winning coach of the USC ever, posted more winning seasons in the SEC than anyone before him and became the most winning coach of the program’s career at the NCAA Tournament when he took the Gamecocks to four tournament wins 2017, reaching the Final Four. However, this was the only participation in the NCAA tournament during his tenure, progress in the four years since then has been average and it seems that the visibility that the race could have created, especially on the recruitment trail, has been wasted.
The USC’s only time as a basketball powerhouse was from 1964 to 1980, during coach Frank McGuire’s busy days. Gamecocks went to four consecutive tournaments in the middle of that era, but after the university left ACC to play independently after their first appearance in 1971, it slowly fell into mediocrity.
Gamecocks were just nine of the NCAA’s 81 tournaments, the same ratio of 1 in 9 that Martin posted. Still, fans’ frustration at not doing better since the Final Four has grown rapidly.
Tanner and the administration have all the cards in the situation, as they will not give Martin the extension of the contract he wants. He has two more years on his current contract and, if he is fired, it will be due to him all his remaining guaranteed salary ($ 6.5 million).
However, he was not fired, which if USC were forced to move on, apparently it would have already happened. Martin could leave on his own, which, under his contract, owed $ 500,000. But, as was discovered during the process of separating former football coach Will Muschamp, the sums are always negotiable.
That would leave USC to attend the NCAA tournament that begins on March 19, with an eye on at least two candidates that should be on the Gamecocks list: Mike Boynton of Oklahoma State, a former USC student and Pat Kelsey of Winthrop. USC is in no hurry to make a change, as these two and many other candidates are still working this season.
Martin can also return, which would apparently guarantee the retention of part of the list and the four-man recruiting class he has committed. While Gamecocks are likely to lose many of their stars to professional basketball, particularly top scorer AJ Lawson, no player has announced his plans or entered the NCAA transfer portal since the end of the season.
Next year’s team was not expected to go to the NCAA Tournament after losing so much talent, but it would be a better chance than if there was a new coach who would likely cause an eliminated squad. Then again, the enthusiasm of the fans would be restored, although no one can say how long it would last during a long process of reconstruction.
Many of Martin’s former players, notably Sindarius Thornwell and PJ Dozier, the stars of his Final Four team, have publicly expressed their support for Martin to remain at USC.
Follow David Cloninger on Twitter @DCPandC.